A visit to the Numurkah NVT Irrigated wheat trial site (Oct 2015) caused some surprise when standing in front of the Beaufort Wheat plot (mid season, awnless, red grained, feed wheat). The plot looked amazing – absolutely jammed with heads standing about 1.3m high but with no sign any lodging issues – noted among many of the other lines at the site. Having topped the Numurkah Irrigated site in 2014, Beaufort was again at the top of the yields.

As a reminder – Beaufort is VS for Stem rust, so growers who are looking at putting in Beaufort should be aware that a sound fungicide prevention program should be in place to avoid stem rust causing issues after head emergence.

A reminder that Beaufort seed can be ordered/purchased from your local rural reseller or directly from AGFseeds at Smeaton (Vic)

GrainSearch’s new export malt type Barley variety Biere is showing its true colours this season in many trial sites across the country.

Photo 1 shows Biere growing at the Southern Farming Systems (SFS) Westmere (Vic) site. Note the excellent ground cover Biere provides. It is very quick once out of the ground and with appropriate sowing rates, can quickly provide weed competition.

Photo 2 shows Hindmarsh at the same site. Note the more open erect canopy that provides more opportunity for the weeds to sneak back in.

Both were sown on the 24th May and Biere is clearly the fastest barley variety at the site and is nearly ready to come into head.
Biere is also showing good disease tolerances so far this season despite the presence of scald and the blotches at many of the sites. Being so fast, it seems that Biere doesn’t stay close to the ground for too long, which possibly minimises early foliar disease loading.
GrainSearch is also conducting some additional trial work this season to check on how Biere performs as a spring sown option (August-October) and whether it can provide a strong yield potential, in the shorter growing season.
For more details on any GrainSearch variety, please contact Philip Jobling (Business Manager, GrainSearch) on mobile 0448318262 or email: phil@grainsearch.com.au

Ongoing Rust Susceptibility trials at the University of Sydney have determined that SQP Revenue is now rated as susceptible – very susceptible (S-VS) to the new Leaf Rust (104) pathotype. Reports from Tasmania, Bairnsdale and the Western Districts this season confirm that Revenue will show this leaf rust early in the season (when the weather is warmer). Seed treatments and crop monitoring are essential to ensure Revenue gets off to a clean start each season. A standard rust/septoria control program is normally sufficient to gain good control of the leaf rust and of course, in a good finishing season, Revenue can still reward growers with large yields.

Many other current varieties are now considered susceptible to this new leaf rust, so growers should check with the latest disease ratings guides to ensure they are aware of any changes to their current preferred wheat varieties.

GrainSearch’s Manning and Beaufort Wheats performed exceptionally well at the NVT Numurkah (NE Victoria) Irrigated Main Season wheat site in 2015.
Beaufort (long season, red-grained feed wheat) continues to show great adaptability – being able to be one of the top yielding lines in dryland and irrigated situations, over a wide sowing window from Late April to End of May. This result follows from the 2014 trial, where Beaufort topped the site and was one of the few lines to have minimal lodging at harvest.
Manning is a very long season, white-grained feed wheat and is consistently one of the top yielding lines whenever there is moisture available to finish grain filling.

For full details of the results of the NVT trials in 2015 season, please visit their website http://www.nvtonline.com.au